Gov. Mifflin senior Ashley Espinosa made almost 70 percent of her shots Tuesday night, but the one she took from the left side of the basket with less than 10 seconds remaining didn't fall.

No problem.

Mifflin's Megan McKay grabbed the rebound and went to the foul line with 5.7 seconds left and the game tied. The 5-11 junior, a first-year starter, hit the first of two free throws and the Mustangs survived Muhlenberg's charge for a 34-33 victory.Click here for more photos

Mifflin (6-1 Berks I, 12-4) earned a key crossover win in the Berks Girls Basketball League to keep pace with Reading High and Wilson at the top of Division I. Muhlenberg (4-3 Berks II, 12-4) remains tied for the lead with Daniel Boone in Division II.

"You know you can't lose (to a Division II team) because there's no guarantee the other two teams are going to lose," Gov. Mifflin coach Rick Bausher said. "It's so critical. It's one of the tiebreakers. Even two years ago, the overtime loss to Boone kept us out of the county playoffs. You can't do it."

The Red Knights beat Fleetwood and the Bulldogs defeated Daniel Boone Tuesday - both by decisive scores. The Mustangs, meanwhile, led the entire game but had to hold off the Muhls' late surge.

Espinosa went 9-for-13 from the field, scored a game-high 19 points and had seven rebounds. Emily Gingrich scored 10, including seven in the first quarter. The duo scored all but five of Mifflin's points.

Bausher said it's a learning process to get more scorers involved, especially when some of the players have less experience.

"They were doubling Ashley and Emily and shading Logan (Focht)," Bausher said. "(The others) have got to believe it. You have to do it a couple times until you really truly believe you can."

Senior JeanLouise Hornberger went 3-for-5 from 3-point range and scored 13 for Muhlenberg. Sophomore Jessie Wallace had eight points and six rebounds.

"I'm really proud of the way they played," Muhlenberg coach Josh Ressler said. "They could've folded, but they didn't."

He was talking about the first eight minutes.

The Mustangs opened with an 11-0 run and led 15-3 by the end of the first quarter. Espinosa and Gingrich combined for all of Mifflin's points in that span.

But Muhlenberg hit two 3-pointers to start the second and cut Mifflin's lead to 16-13 after Wallace hit two straight layups. Espinosa had 11 points and six boards, leading the Mustangs to an 18-13 halftime lead.

"She's a phenomenal player, and she made some tough shots," Ressler said. "I thought we did a really nice job after the first quarter of guarding Espinosa."

The Muhls climbed back into the game as well.

Espinosa hit a basket with 1.5 seconds left in the third to give the Mustangs a 29-21 advantage. She pushed the lead to 33-24 with a jumper with five minutes remaining.

But Muhlenberg finally tied it when Carlie Lepera made a layup with 1:29 left.

"You can't be down 15-3 to start a game," Ressler said. "You can't get behind teams like Mifflin, Wilson, Reading, then expect to come back. We almost did. There's some teams you can do that against, but this isn't one."